Hi,
My college search has been a little difficult because I am a California resident and am interested in a lot of out of state schools, particularly UO. It is a reach school for me, but I am also applying to Oregon State so this thread could be applicable for that school as well. I did a NPC on the UO website, and was given an estimated family contribution of about $10,500. I’m not sure what this means exactly and have seen completely different definitions of it throughout the internet. Is this an estimated cost of attendance? Or is it the amount I can subtract from the total cost of attendance? Is it before or after financial aid? I then saw on another site that the average OOS cost of attendance was around $15,000, and on another that it was around $45,000. I’m just very confused and would appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of getting an accurate estimate of how much it’d cost for me to attend (room and board included). I’d like to know now if I’d be able to pull it off financially before getting my hopes up.
I just did the UO NPC and it is misleading if you don’t have the results sent to you. The first result makes it look like you’ll have a modest net cost. But the detailed results that include a colorful pie chart, etc, will show that most of the costs will be in a huge student loan.
They give very little aid to OOS students.
I had a feeling that’s what the case is. Bummer. Are the detailed results that get sent more accurate or just a more ‘detailed’ version of the first result?
More accurate and they don’t really represent the first part at all except that it takes the FAFSA EFC and then gives a huge loan to get to that cost. It’s really misleading!
I wish I could post the results here…I have a screenshot. It shows over $36k of loans, which is ridiculous since the parents would have to agree and qualify to take those out…and it’s too much debt anyway!
I changed my profile pic to include the screenshot but unfortunately the whole thing isn’t captured. I tried to catch the relevant parts.
Ack! It’s hard to read …out of focus! Can anyone else read it?
Ok…I changed it again to just include the pie chart. Hopefully it’s readable.
And everyone…if you go to @mom2collegekids profile…you will,see her other avatar that has the listing…which was the second part of this NPC print out.
It’s readable! Thank you so much. That’s ridiculous! Will get the detailed report and apply anyway just to see what happens. The $30,000+ in loans is not looking too great though. Lol
Why not just attend a California public university at in-state cost with in-state financial aid?
OP’s stats from another thread: I’m a California resident, with a 3.3 W GPA, and 1130 SAT. @lemondrop77: you were interested in some Cal States on your other threads so what has changed? You mentioned SFSU since you are from NorCal, but for a change of scenery look at the Cal states in Southern California. Channel Islands, Northridge, Dominguez Hills, San Marcos, San Bernardino. If your stats are the same since your last posting, chances for merit aid are low for any OOS school and need-based aid will also be a problem if you target any state public schools.
Have you considered the WUE schools such Northern Arizona (NAU), Montana State, University of Nevada-Reno ?
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
http://outofstatecollegefairs.org/western-undergraduate-exchange-wue-faqs/
^^^ I didn’t know what the student’s stats were and when I ran the NPC I put ACT 30 and 3.8 GPA, so that small scholarship will probably not happen.
If you qualify for a Cal Grant, then seriously apply to some of the lower UCs, including Merced and UCR. You’d get awesome aid, much better than a CSU.
I just came back from a visit to a couple schools in Oregon, and I really loved it there. I still have no problem just going to a CSU like I originally planned though. Just thought I’d look into OOS that I liked
I actually started that NAU application too, so that’s another option.
I’m pretty sure I do apply for a Cal Grant, so I will look into UCR and UCI. thank you!
I think UCR is an option, but UCI is a Reach based on your stats.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.00-3.39
UCB/UCLA/UCSD: 1%
UCI/UCSB: 2%
UCD: 4%
UCSC: 18%
UCR: 38%
UCM: 67%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 15%
UCSB: 14%
UCI: 13%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 78%
UCM: 92%
The Cal States and some of the WUE schools are better options.
Not UCI…your stats aren’t high enough. Apply to UCR, UCMerced, and maybe UC Santa Cruz.
I never even considered UC’s until now because I just assumed my stats were way too low. It’s good to know I may have some chance! Thanks everyone!
UCMerced is a new UC and you’d have a good chance to get in there.